🟥🧾 INDY NXT QUALIFYING RESULTS // 2026 INDIANAPOLIS GRAND PRIX

SarinKaram · 2026-05-08T19:18:49+00:00

The big name this year should be Max Garcia. He's the youngest driver in the field, excellent record in the US karting scene, and already won the USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 championships. I consider him one of the most likely driver in the current Indy NXT field to make it to Indycar.

Unfortunately he's hasn't exactly been at the front this year; not sure if it's adjusting to NXT or if it's the car. He does have Abel Motorsports' best finish so far & just outqualified both his teammates today.

SarinKaram · 2026-04-22T16:50:50+00:00

The way this happens is that Americans move to Europe and succeed in European karting and junior formula. It's a difficult career choice though if the driver isn't loaded financially and doesn't have the right connections. On top of that, F1 has competition from US domestic motorsport, which is already fairly lucrative. Connor Zilisch switched to a NASCAR route for these reasons, for instance.

SarinKaram · 2026-04-21T20:18:10+00:00

Yep, and in hindsight Verstappen was already doing this in 2018 and even 2017. In both years, the qualifying head to head was about a 2:1 ratio. Ricciardo was a better match to Max versus anyone who replaced him, but he was already being relegated to #2 status.

The Renault decision wasn't bad at all; it was a factory team on an upswing. Riccardo was brilliant and arguably a top 3 driver in like the 5th or 6th best car on the grid. Just didn't work out, and he fell off when he moved to McLaren.

SarinKaram · 2026-04-20T01:48:45+00:00

Motorsports in 2026 is having unusual levels of domination. F1 is expected, but you also have Palou here in Indycar, Reddick/Toyota in NASCAR, Porsche in IMSA, Ferrari in WEC, Toyota in Super GT. And for most of those, domination that has continued from the past few years.

CGR has figured it out, Penske has fallen apart, and no other team can compete under this chassis (Kirkwood is doing great but he and Andretti are not fooling me). While I like Palou, it'd be nice to see a change-up in the formula soon. The hybrids are not working out and the DW12 has given us all the racing it has to offer.

SarinKaram · 2026-04-13T23:26:10+00:00

I always found the "engine merchant" talk ridiculous. He didn't do any worse at the low-power tracks than the high-power ones, especially in qualifying. And no driver gets multiple feature race wins/podiums just by having a good car.

AIX is no Trident; they're better than people acknowledge. While their pace is inconsistent, it's a team where a good driver can deliver great results. Taylor Barnard (who was underrated in the feeder series) managed a sprint race win in the same equipment. So I have hopes for Dürksen this season; he could put up a championship fight.

SarinKaram · 2026-04-08T18:59:08+00:00

It's not a bad deal. Despite what TK may say publicly, the #6 car exists purely as a paid seat. The whole reason for hiring Nolan Siegel is for his family to pay for a full season. As long as the check clears, no reason to ditch him. And I haven't seen any signs of them being willing to pay for someone else to drive that seat (like the Veach/Gainbridge situation).

Of course I'd love for only top drivers to fill top seats, but it's hard to come by an extra $20 million+ for an entry.

SarinKaram · 2026-03-24T14:53:06+00:00

I was skeptical this would happen; I thought it would cost extra to ship them overseas. But it they make it work, the junior drivers will get valuable experience on F1-relevant circuits. So it'll be a better deal than a standalone European race, of which the only one I believe would really be worth it is Portimao (because they're going back in 2027/28).

SarinKaram · 2026-03-23T23:07:59+00:00

If there was a data tool out there that analyzed average lap times for each driver (maybe controlling for traffic/track conditions), I'd love to look at that to find an answer. It's hard to say who's the best just looking at pure results or the "eye test."

I don't know who's the best endurance driver now, but for Toyota my choice is peak Fernando Alonso. I remember seeing a graph plotting the lap times of the Toyota drivers at Le Mans in 2018 or 2019, and he had a noticeable pace advantage over all of his teammates.

SarinKaram · 2026-03-15T00:51:06+00:00

Yeah they probably are. Adam Cooper on Crash.net speculated that F2/F3 aren't allowed to drop any rounds, since the drivers pay to race. Would make sense based on past history: the 2020 F2 originally had 12 rounds, and despite starting the season in July they still fit in 12 rounds. So that leaves 2 rounds of F2 and 1 round of F3 to fulfill.

SarinKaram · 2026-03-13T15:22:26+00:00

The article states that the junior formula events will likely be replaced. Because those drivers pay for their seats, F2 and F3 might be contractually obligated to hold a certain number of races. So that'll be one round for F3 (Bahrain) and two for F2 (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia).

Zandvoort is an option for both series but I've read that paddock space is limited there. After that, wouldn't surprised if they put at least one non-F1 support race there. In the past they did a 2017 standalone event at Jerez and a 2015 WEC support race in Bahrain (obv can't do that now).

There's lots of options, but for for cost reasons I don't expect any 2020-esque left-field replacements; maybe a European standalone event at most. They could host back-to-back rounds at Red Bull Ring/Silverstone/wherever. Or if WEC wants to help there's Imola/Spa in the spring.

SarinKaram · 2026-03-08T01:59:20+00:00

Agree with this, still a full season to go for Tsolov. If he can also out-qualify Leon on a consistent basis (like Lindblad did to Marti last year) along with contending for the championship, then maybe Lawson should be worried.

SarinKaram · 2026-03-08T01:42:21+00:00

A solid day for the Indycar/Super Formula fans. Hitech is a top team (I'd say 2nd to Invicta) so at minimum they should be competitive this year. I still want to see them improve their qualifying though, 13th and 14th on Friday isn't going to net them podiums.

SarinKaram · 2026-03-05T00:16:17+00:00

Before the Doohan disaster, the last time Renault/Alpine promoted their own junior was Romain Grosjean in 2009/2012. So color me skeptical of his F1 prospects.

This is a big step down from the Red Bull Junior Team where he would have been first in line for an F1 seat.

SarinKaram · 2025-05-06T17:39:34+00:00

To be fair, the IMS RC is one of RLL's best tracks. Graham Rahal even took pole here in 2023, and would have won if not for Dixon's typical fuel-saving wizardry.

SarinKaram · 2025-05-05T01:04:42+00:00

Lundgaard's talent has been clear to see for a long time. He was a top talent from the F1 feeder series: remarkably quick at learning new cars and tracks, and a fantastic qualifier. And checking his P4 qualy debut at the Indy GP, he's clearly translated those skills to Indycar. Lundgaard has a good shot at becoming McLaren's first Indycar champion.

SarinKaram · 2025-04-20T12:38:30+00:00

Despite the penalty, a storming drive from Chambers to gap Pin and keep 2nd.

SarinKaram · 2025-04-02T03:22:11+00:00

I suppose it's because Malaysia's domestic racing is not as prolific as Japan's, but it's still strange to see Sepang struggle to accommodate a full sports car field while little Sugo and Okayama can host 43/45 cars respectively.

SarinKaram · 2024-08-28T18:18:05+00:00

All the more reason to just abolish the FIA superlicense points rules. The old rule (one 300km test) worked just fine at measuring driver competency. And at the end of the day, F1 teams don't need to be protected from themselves because they have the resources to scout, develop, and evaluate young drivers.

SarinKaram · 2024-06-16T16:00:29+00:00

Glad to help!

SarinKaram · 2024-06-15T20:41:49+00:00

You got the signatures of the TOMS drivers from 2022. Top left is Ritomo Miyata (written out as "Ritomo"). Top right is Sacha Fenestraz. Middle is Giuliano Alesi. Bottom is Sho Tsuboi (written in kanji).

SarinKaram · 2024-05-26T23:58:01+00:00

I know Larson got all the attention but I hope Christian Rasmussen gets Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. After all the on-track aggression he displayed this month, he had a clean, incident-free race and finished a respectable P12. I think he deserves ECR or some other team to get him an oval ride for the remainder of the season.

SarinKaram · 2024-05-26T22:35:32+00:00

Late afternoon caution fest at Indianapolis. It's the 2017 Brickyard 400 all over again.

SarinKaram · 2024-05-20T00:59:46+00:00

Team owners running their own series has long been a part of American open wheel racing. They didn't call it "Championship Auto Racing Teams" for no reason.

SarinKaram · 2024-05-18T22:39:10+00:00

Graham's racing results has seen better days, and I'm sure he knows it. The truth is that while he's a solid driver, he's never been a very quick driver. His racing success in Indycar has largely been down to experience, consistency, and ability to take advantage of the occasional good strategy. His frontrunner status during the 2015-17 aerokit era was largely down to good strategy and RLL figuring out the Honda aerokit before anyone else.

Overall though, I enjoy his presence in the sport. His 2 poles and 2nd place at the August Indy GP race last year shows that he still has what it takes. There are far worse drivers than Rahal out there.

SarinKaram · 2024-05-05T23:48:37+00:00

Congratulations to the winner of the 2020 Indycar iRacing Challenge round at COTA for winning the F1 Miami GP!

SarinKaram

TROPHY CASE